The blood consists of wide ranges of cells, molecules, ions and water. But, their abnormal degradation or proliferation, their functional changes, and invasion of foreign matters or toxins into the blood call for immediate intervention. Removing unwanted materials from the blood is a solution. Embodiments of the present invention provides for a system and method to specifically remove unwanted targets in the blood by attaching the unwanted target to a high density sub-micron particle and separating the high density sub-micron particle from the blood with density dependent centrifugation. An embodiment of a device as disclosed herein will also be capable of removing specific targets from other liquids and solvents after the targets have been attached to a high density sub-micron particle functionalized to bind to the specific target.
A high density sub-micron particle as referenced herein may have intrinsic biological function, such as use as a perfluorocabon based artificial oxygen carrier (AOC). After some time, the AOC may have to be centrifugally collected from the blood and removed, by taking advantage of their density being higher than that of the blood components.
The benefits of other types of high density sub-micron particles may be found in their ability to capture the desired targets after the sub-micron high density particles are functionalized to conjugate with the specific cells, molecules and ions in the blood. The sub-micron high density particles may be able to capture the circulating tumor cells (CTC), sickle cell hemoglobin (HbS), toxins, irons etc. in the blood and then be retrieved from the circulation using the specialized centrifuge rotor described herein, after the targets bind to the binding partner located on a sub-micron high density particles.
Removing the sub-micron high density particles as described herein will be possible with aphaeresis instruments of various types already available. However, the instruments already available are tuned for separating molecules and cells found in blood which span a limited range of densities. The densities of sub-micron particles of interest are 1.9 gm/ml or higher and are significantly higher than those of the highest density component found in blood, namely 1.2 g/ml of RBC, and most synthetic organic and polymeric materials. Separating materials with such large differences in density is carried out with a rotor as described herein rather than those described for use in conventional clinical aphaeresis instruments.
An embodiment of a rotor as described herein will continuously or intermittently isolate high density sub-micron particles from blood components (for example whole blood or subfraction thereof) continuously and quickly. In one embodiment, since the separation is continuous, there will be no limits in the volume of materials to be centrifuged. In one embodiment of the rotor, the volume of rotor is no more than about 15 mls and counting the volumes of the tubes that provide flow to the rotor and the tubes that direct the liquid from the rotor through the treatment process the volume will be less than 70 mls. Thus, the volume of exo-corporeal treatment will be about 85-100 mls. In another embodiment the rotor can be used to continuously or intermittently isolate high density sub-micron particles from other biological fluids, cell lysates, macromolecule or polymer solutions etc.